That’s pretty much the conclusion this week with a Democrat winning the mayoral race in Jacksonville.

Alvin Brown beat Republican/Tea Party candidate Mike Hogan.

Democrats do not win in Jacksonville. The last Democratic mayor switched parties and became a Republican.

Hogan was supposed to win this race in a cakewalk. Sen. Marco Rubio campaigned for him. Gov. Rick Scott and Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll – who is from Jacksonville – supported him.

And he lost.

This comes as polls show Rick Scott’s popularity has plunged.

The analysis from Jacksonville is that Hogan was too Tea Party, and Brown ran as a centrist. Brown captured support from many businesses and moderate Republicans.

This comes as Scott’s popularity has plunged.

The Tea Party appeals to about a third of voters on the Republican right. If Scott and Co. continue their strategy of appealing only to them — SunRail comes to mind – then Jacksonville is a sign on things to come.

Comments

Candidates of the Republican Party, who have aligned themselves with Gov Scott and the tea party are going to have a lot more difficult time in 2012. The Jax election should have been a slam dunk for the republicans. Scott, Rubio, Haridopolos, Tea Party, all lost in this election!

I am a moderate republican. I plan on voting mainly Democrat next election cycle as the Republican Party has been captured by a radical right. During a congressional town hall meeting I went to several people proudly announce they were tea party all the way. One accused the congress woman of congress not paying social security and medicare tax and wanted them included. Federal employees including congress have been paying that I think since 1983. Several wanted the US to not increase the debt ceiling no matter what. They had no idea of the economic harm that would do to the country or them. What is scarey is these people vote and do not know even basic policies and economics. They are being manipulated by fear mongers against their own interest. I know the debt has to be tackled and social programs must be reformed. But we need to do that from a position of knowledge and analysis not fear mongering sloganeering. Yes as I have been predicting the Republican Party has over reached and a voter backlash is coming.

You are correct. It is a sign of things to come. Candidates can’t just wear the Republican tag anymore and expect to win. They have to be REAL Republicans. REAL Republicans win. Who are examples? Ronald Reagan. Jeb Bush. Marco Rubio. Rick Scott. Jennifer Carroll. These candidates will never have a problem winning an election, because they are REAL Republicans. They care about our nation and even hoards of fire breathing liberal journalists can’t stop the stampede to the polls to cast votes for these REAL Republicans. The fake Republicans are another story. Fake Republicans take the voter for granted, ignore their responsibilities, and are basically self serving. This is the definition of a Democrat candidate. So it’s no wonder that given the choice between a Democrat and a fake Republican, Jacksonville chose the Democrat. The only surprise was how close the election was. The results show that nearly a majority of voters will give a Republican candidate the benefit of the doubt, even if he is clearly not a REAL Republican.

Please define what a REAL Republican is. I thought I was one. That’s what says right there on the card in my wallet.
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From what I read, Hogan espoused exactly those “values” you treasure so highly.
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It’s embarrasses me to mention that two of the three Florida sales tax increases were signed by Republican Governors and that Reagan INCREASED my incomes taxes in 1986 with his “Tax Simplification Act.”
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My Driver’s License fee went up last year, how about yours? My Auto Registration fee went up, too. REAL Republicans did this to me.
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Reagan simplified out tax deductions. The ones that helped us common folks are still gone and unlike the corporation deductions, they were not replaced.
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If that’s the kind of REAL Republican you like, you may want to think hard about telling us how wonderful these people are.

If we vote Republican no matter if they follow traditional Republican values or not people like us will not have our interest taken serious by Republican politicians. I do not like the current trajectory of our party. Like you I have realized that the burden of running the country has been more and more shifted to working folks while letting large corporations and wealthy individuals off the hook. The laws and policies have not benefited the majority of us. If that is to stop we have to stop rewarding this kind of behavior. I am registered Republican but I have always voted independently.

vey, OK let me explain. A REAL Republican is someone who will increase your Drivers License fee by $20, a fee you have to pay only once every eight years if you are a safe driver. A FAKE Republican is someone (not to mention any names but Charlie Crist for example) is someone who wants you and everyone else in the state to pick up a THREE BILLION DOLLAR tab for a train between here and Tampa that nobody will ride.

Please be at least a little informed before you make a statement. Florida was to be GIVEN 2.5 BILLION dollars by the federal govt. and any cost overruns would of been made up by the contractors who built the fast speed train line. This would of made thousands of high paying jobs, improved the economy and would of generated lots of needed money for Florida…..and by the way Mike Hogan was the Jacksonville candidate for mayor who had over 16 pay raises while he was working for Jacksonville.
The GOP is dead if it follows the tea party. It may hurt but it is the truth.

I guess, since I am a real Democrat, my car registrations doubled. Per car. I pay MY registrations every single year. So, if I was a real Repub, I wouldn’t have to pay that?? My husband, is a real Corrections Officer. No raise for 6 years…this year a pay cut. He used to be a real Repub. Didn’t seem to help him. That ‘three billion dollar’ train would have created thousands of jobs. Something that ‘real repub’ said he wanted to do for this state. Instead, he has cut thousands of jobs. Actually, that is the mark of a real repub.

“A FAKE Republican is someone” who claims to be a member of the Tea Party! Get real, if you carry a card saying you are a Republican but vote the Tea Party agenda why then are you a member of the Republican Party? You should do what Charlie Crist did and run on your own standing, but as we see, that really did not work out so well for Charlie, because typically Republicans only know enough to vote whoever is slated as being “Republican” until now! The writing is on the wall, either be a sensible Republican, if you say you are, or get out of town, and stay out!.

See Rick Scott as a REAL Republican should be viewed as an oxymoron! For one to think this and write “Candidates can’t just wear the Republican tag anymore and expect to win” does not GET the significance of this blog!

Over the last Republican control decade taxes have moved from the wealthy to the backs of the middle class. Tangible and corporate income tax have been nearly eliminated with this lost tax revenue transferred to the middle class through increased fee structure and excise and use taxes on cell phones, cable and utilities. Have you checked out your cell phone bill lately. Taxfoundation.org does an excellent job of showing who is paying and who is not.

Ronald Reagan. Jeb Bush. Marco Rubio. Rick Scott. Jennifer Carroll. These candidates will never have a problem winning an election,
EXCUSE ME!!!!!
I am not sure about Jennifer Carroll but I do believe she is a strong follower of Rick Scott , and I know Marco Rubio is a Tea Party man.
Rick Scott and Rubio will have a VERY difficult time getting elected for ANY office in Florida ever again.
Fake Republicans take the voter for granted, ignore their responsibilities, and are basically self serving.This describes Rick Scott to the letter and Rubio.

“A train no would ride” Where have you been? The estimates are back and the rail effort was found profitable. This “train” was linking two of the most popular tourist areas in the country together and it was providing an additional advantage for Visit Florida”.

The makeup of political parties changes over time. I always felt it would be the religious wrong who would be the downfall of the Republican party. Turns out it’s the teabaggers. Reagan couldn’t win a Republican primary in 2012.

Obama is a centralist. I have been pleasantly surprised. Right now I see no Republican candidate I would vote for in the 2012 president election. I did not vote for Obama in 2008 but probably will in 2012. The country is center right. Obama is center left. He is much closer to me than the far nutty right being pushed right now by the Republican party. Just like Reagan got a lot of Democrat votes when he ran, I think next time Obama will get moderate Republican votes in 2012. Some times I think my party has a death wish with the candidates that the party pushed on us for the general election.

These new “Republicans ” we have elected or who have chosen to listen to some off the wall base for support ( see: Tea Party, Creationists etc.) will not be so easily re-elected, thankfully so. They have come out from the ooze with the same GOP lies and have gotten a majority of a fearful electorate to believe their doctrine.

Next election, Remember these basic GOP Lies:
* Tax cuts for wealthy individuals create jobs.
*Tax cuts for business create jobs.
* Deficit cuts create jobs.
* Wage and benefit cuts to workers create jobs.
* Business regulations kill jobs.
By the way where are the jobs as promised

floriduh voters have short memories. They still think of the years baby bush and his retarded brother ran things as the Golden Years. Not remembering that the tax cuts for the rich, corporate exemptions, deregulation destroyed the budget surplus and caused the recession. Blaming Obama is like selling someone a termite ridden house and then blaming them when it falls down. But fixed news and the kock brothers propoganda machine will spend billions on doomsday commercials and all the little morons will fall in line. I think this prophecy will stand up a little better than end of the world mans

JumpinJackFlah…you’re falling for the “estimates”. Too funny. If you went by the estimates, they predicted that the train would carry more people than the most popular train routes in the NorthEast…which ain’t going to happen. You think folks in Tampa/Orlando are fork over money for an expensive train ticket for a ride that will be three/four times as long as a car ride…and then when they arrive, they’ll have to figure out how to get from the train station to where ever they need to be.
Dumping the Tampa/Orlando train is the best thing Scott has done. Unfortunately his list of accomplishments gets uglier from there.

Mr pace, you’re part of the sheeple who thought that spending billions and billions of $$$ on a porkilus bill would actually create private sector jobs. LOL.
Study after study has shown that the only jobs saved/created with that POS bill were Govt workers…ie, those folks who don’t create wealth, but eat it up.
On a National level is clear that the Bamster, Reid and the wicked whench of the West Pelosi have F-ed up this Nation so bad…it will take a Tea Party (or bagger if you prefer) to right the ship. I just hope ‘12 isn’t to late.

Republicans have nothing to worry about and will continue to control Florida. It doesn’t matter if there’s more Democrats than Republicans when Democrats don’t bother getting off their butts to go out and vote.

The entire Florida Republican/Teabagger Legislature that legalized bribery should update their resumes and begin the task of searching for other lines of work. Should they be unable to secure employment, may I take this opportunity to remind them that unemployment benefits have been cut while we have the third highest unemployment in the nation – one job for every 5 unemployed.

I will never, ever vote for anyone with an R beside their name, under any circumstance.